The term of soft surface preparation is a new word, but not a new method. Nomura and Hiraide (1968) and Axelsson (1968, 1971) had already used the same method, that was a technique of surface preparation for the decalcified cochlea.
Authors have performed to obtain the surface specimen of the cochlea after the decalcification with Plank-Rychlo's solution and/or EDTA solution and to clarify the following results. The soft surface preparation of the cochlea have advantages of obtaining the continuous specimens of the cochlea and decreasing of the artifact. And also, it has possibility of observing the pathway of microvessels in modiolus, spiral ligament, stria vascularis, osseous lamina, round window membrane and ossicles.